IF there is ever a good time to play one of your major promotion contenders I would say that time is now.

Having taken just two points from the last 12, and suffering the ignominy of a 'dressing down' in their own dressing room - not only from their manager but also the chairman - Derby County players are suddenly feeling a different kind of mid-winter heat to the one they were expecting.

For Monday night's Sky TV game, figuratively speaking, you could say the Rams come to Turf Moor with their fluffy little tails tucked well and truly between their legs - which of course is just the way we want them to leave.

The public humiliation of having their warm-weather training cancelled in Dubai last week obviously did not have the desired chastising effect as they succumbed to a 3-0 home reverse to Birmingham City in their following league match.

There must also be having flashbacks of a similar meltdown to last season preying on their minds.

If you recall Derby, under the managership of Steve McClaren, at this same stage of 27 games played were equal top with Bournemouth on 51points yet finished the campaign on 77. They even missed out on the consolation of a play-off place after eventually finishing eighth.

Add that to the massive expectations of their supporters who believe that spending around £25million should near guarantee them success and you have an inevitable air of vulnerability with a low confidence issue setting in when results don't go according to plan. Burnley must exploit that fragility with a merciless intent right from the start.

Compare that to the Clarets, fresh from recording a sensational away treble at Middlesbrough, MK Dons and Brentford. In contrast they must be strutting around with their chests puffed out like turkeys who have just escaped the annual Christmas roasting (with the exception of Hull City).

Given the extra difficulty of the tasks away from home the second half displays at the initial two, and the first half annihilation at Griffin Park must qualify as our best passages of 45-minute play so far this season.

It's a great time to be hitting form with some top quality goals scored in the process and just two conceded all within a week. But now we need to replicate that winning mentality at home once again in front of our own fans as we did so clinically in the 4-0 victories against both Charlton and Bristol City either side of Christmas.

Of course Derby will have the same mindset in trying to get back to winning ways, particularly so ex-Clarets Lee Grant and Jason Shackell, who basically considered the Derbyshire club a better prospect than us.

Monday night offers the opportunity of a timely reminder that we are equally capable and ambitious enough to compete at the top level with the best.

You can't predict a lot of goals in this one with so much at stake, yet this really is a golden opportunity for Burnley to leapfrog the Rams and keep in touching distance of Hull City, who just happen to be our next visitors to Turf Moor.